Issue 096
December 2012
When the UFC hired British high-flyer Garry Cook this summer, to take the fight brand to world markets, it knew what it was getting: a vastly experienced CEO, with the proven track record of someone more than capable of surviving in the cut and thrust of sport and business.
LEADING MAN
Garry Cook
UFC VP of Europe, Middle East, Africa
Cook showed his class when UFC president Dana White introduced him to the media for the first time, following the UFC on Fuel TV card in Nottingham, England, after the event there in late September. Cook’s first act was to thank his predecessor, global vice president Marshall Zelaznik, for all he had done during his time in the UK office – and beyond. White makes no bones that the organization needs to employ “some of the world’s leading lights” to realize the company’s mission of taking mixed martial arts to the world.
“Many of you know him, he has a very strong, outstanding track record of business. He worked for Nike from ‘96 to 2008, from president to general manager of the international brand for Jordan, and then later he became the chief executive of Manchester City Football Club, and completely restructured and rebuilt that club,” said White.
“The guy’s a stud when it comes to running businesses and building brands, and taking brands global… he’s our new man that’s gonna get the ball rolling and get things going over here in Europe,” White added.
Between 2008 and 2011, Cook was credited as being key to changing the culture – root and branch – at the reigning English Premier League champions Man City, before his departure from the club. The new challenge will be further developing the UFC, the value of which last year was estimated at $2.2 billion.
“I’ve been following the sport of MMA for some time, because of the dynamic impact it is having on the commercial side of the sports industry,” Cook tells FO. “It has made unprecedented strides to capture the hearts of many new fans worldwide, and as Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White, the owners of the UFC, have articulated – it may not be for everybody, but it captures attention. It certainly captured mine.”
Cook, 50, originally from the Midlands, has worked in several other US-oriented commercial sports fields in a 25-year-career in the sports industry. “I took the challenge of working at Nike, I worked in American Football, basketball – and as an Englishman I had to figure out Michael Jordan’s world brand development. The greatest athlete the world and the sports industry has ever seen was loved by an urban American consumer; you figure it out.
“We have to be careful not to force people’s opinions on MMA. The challenge is ensuring people are informed before they make that choice. The last 11 to 12 years, the UFC has been self-regulating through independent parties – but it is an organization which sets its own standards. There is a perception, and what is actually being done. What’s impressive is how their senior executives have gone about their business.” He adds: “One of the strategies, of course, is to have more events. We will look at the format for our marketplace. In general there will be more events.”
Cook reasoned that some will say he does not understand MMA. He gets that. But he is a shrewd cookie who understands how businesses work. And he clearly has a passion for the UFC brand already. “At Manchester City Football Club, the comments were, ‘You’re not from football, you don’t understand it.’ But you get in – and I mean in at the deep end – and you figure it out.
“My excitement level is very much the same about the UFC. How do you position the business, the brand, continue the growth, look at developing internationally, use the cultural differences worldwide, and continue the momentum the team has already created? It’s possibly the toughest challenge I’ve had, but this is what I enjoy. It’s about having a clear vision, and a clear strategy.”
Cook needn’t worry about interest. Over the last seven years, the sport has grown exponentially, exploding in popularity, creating new fans in Brazil, Asia, Australia and Europe. In the United States, it has become one of the most viewed sports, and last year, the Fox television network signed a seven-year deal with the UFC worth $700 million. The biggest pay-per-view events are screened in 150 countries and reach over a quarter of a billion viewers.
“We have a pure product, and that athletic product is real, it’s authentic. How that product reaches its fans and consumers is key, either live, or on television, or through social networking, which is very much a part of this sport,” Cook says.?“But at the end of it, it’s about the athletes. In Europe, we are looking to develop local heroes. In Europe, we love our guy to go out there and challenge the greatest in the world.”
Cook reveals his delight in the experience of sitting only feet away from Anderson Silva, defending the UFC middleweight title in Las Vegas in July against Chael Sonnen, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
“I felt genuinely fortunate to be there,” he admits. “I watched it through the eyes of a fan. I bumped into a group of footballers there – one I’d signed for Manchester City and one I tried to sign. At the Sonnen-Silva fight, LeBron James was there, just in front of me, glued to the action too, and so animated. The point is that great athletes recognize other great athletes. They all follow the same principles: Fitness, focus, dedication. Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Anderson Silva… all the great footballers… they belong in the same club.
“The UFC is a pure product. We have an audience, drama, unpredictability. No one is pretending to the consumer. There is talent, arenas, commercial opportunities. For me, the principles were the same at Nike and Man City. Now it’s the UFC.
“The great thing is that the owners, Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White, unlike those who buy a football club as an interest in a sport – have invested in the UFC and are defining a new sport and creating a new industry. It’s groundbreaking, and I can’t wait to get started.”
